Refrigerating apparatus.



c. J. COLEMAN. REFRIGERATING APPARATUS. APPLlCATlON FILED OCT-1,1902- RENEWED JULY 24,1914.

IATORN Y Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

a a Q CLE I. COLEMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T VIRGINIA REFRIGERATOR CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Application filed October 1, 1902, Serial No. 125,547. Renewed July 24, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLYDE J. COLEMAN,

- a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being-had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to the expan sion devices or means for controlling the flow of refrigerant medium from a condensed and liquid condition, as from the condition existing in the condenser, to an expanded condition as in a cooler or refrigerator or cooling coil or chamberl My invention has for its object to prevent any possibility of congelation or freezing or clogging of the expansion device under any of the varied conditions of the operation of the refrigerating apparatus. a

My invention also has for its objects to provide for self adjustment to varying conditions of pressure and liquefaction of the refrigerant medium in the condenser so as to at all times provide anabutment against whichthe refrigerant medium may be liquefied and a seal against the passage of'unliquefied refrigerant medium, but to provide at all times a suficiently easy passage for the liquefied medium to permit the same to enter and expand in the refrigerator.

According to my invention I provide means for maintaining a heat supplying medium in thermal conductive adjacency to the point or place of expansion in the expansion device, and according to my invention such heat supplying medium is a body of the refrigerant medium in liquid condition, and according to my invention the passage for the refrigerant .medium in the expansion device is through a vapor resisting or fluid conducting device and this feature is combined with the other feature of my invention above mentioned.

I have illustrated in the accompanying drawing a complete refrigerating apparatus embodying my invention, including an ex-, pansion device in which a porous partition separates the high pressure from the low pressure and in which the casing of the expansion device is rovided with means for maintaining a ho y of the liquid medium Specification of Letters Patent.

in contact with such porous partition on both the compression or high pressure side thereof and the expansion or low pressure side thereof. T will now describe such apparatus embodying my invention and will thereafter point out my invention in claims.

Figure l is a diagrammatical elevation of a complete refrigerating apparatus. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the expansion device or valve.

The main parts of the apparatus comprise a refrigerator or cooling coil or chamber 6 for utilizing the expansion of a condensed medium in the production of a refrigerating or cooling action, a compressor 2 for withdrawing the medium from the refrigerator and compressing the same, means for abstracting heat from the compressed medium, shown as a condenser 5, and an expansion device 1 for controlling the movement of the medium from the high pressure of the condenser to the low pressure of the refrigorator.

The refrigerant medium, in the embodiment of my invention shown, is circulated in a closed cycle flowing from the refrigerator 6 through the conduit 11 and into the compressor 2 under the control of the inlet valve 13, and is forced out of the compressor through the outlet valve 14 into the conduit 4, and flows through the conduit 4 into the condenser 5, and from the condenser 5 through the conduit 7 to the expansion de- Vice. 1, and from the expansion device 1 through the conduit 3 back to the refrigerator.

The refrigerator 6 and compressor 2 and condenser 5 are conventionally illustrated and may be of any usual and suitable .con-

posed in the path of the refrigerant medium as it flows from the condenser 5 to the refrigerator 6, the pores of the partition constituting the only passageway for the refrigerant medium from the lower chamber 9 to the upper chamber 8, and the capillary resistance exerted in the pores of the diaphragm affording an abutment or liquefying resistance against which the refrigerant medium may be liquefied in the condenser. When the pores of the porous partition are filled with liquid refrigerant medium the partition constitutes a seal against the passage of any material amount of gaseous medium, while afl'ordin a sufficiently free passage for the liquefie or liquid medium. The upper chamber 8 is arranged with its outlet at the upper part thereof and constitutes a collecting chamber for liquid medium at the loW pressure side of the partition, thereby maintaining a heat supplying medium in thermal conductive adjacency to the point of expansion and in contact with the porous partition, and as the porous partition replaces the ordinary expansion valve, it may be termed the expansion means. The lower chamber 9 is located below the level of the condenser and so that the medium liquefied in the condenser will flow into this chamber and into contact with the porous partition or expansion means at the high pressure side thereof and therefore the porous partition or expansion means will have the liquid refrigerant medium in contact therewith at the high pressure side thereofas well as at the low pressure side thereof.

The presence of liquid refrigerant medium at and in contact with the expansion side of the expansion means insures the maintenance in solution of lubricating oils which are carried to the high pressure side of the expansion means by the contact of liquid refrigerant medium therewith at the high pressure side thereof, and which are carried through the pores of the partition or expansion means, and prevents clogging of the pores or congelation or freezing at the expansion side or in the pores, and the porous partition expansion means will accommodate considerable variations in the rate of expansion and in the quantity of refrigerant medium expanded.

It is obvious that the construction shown in the drawings and above particularly described may be modified and altered within the spirit and scope of my invention, and

that an expansion device embodying my invention may be employed in connection with refrigerating apparatus and as part of refrigerating systems of various types and constructions.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is i 1. A closed cycle refrigerating apparatus comprising a condenser, a refrigerator,

means for establishing a difference of pressure between the condenser and refrigerator, and an expansion device between the condenser and refrigerator provided with vapor resisting and fluid conducting means adapted to permit at all times the passage of liquid medium from high pressure to low and also provided with means for maintaining a heat supplying medium in thermal conductive agency to the point of expansion.

2. A closed cycle refrigerating apparatus comprising a condenser, a refrigerator, a compressor, and an expansion device between the condenser and refrigerator provided with vapor resisting and fluid conducting expansion means adapted to permit at all times the passage of liquid medium from low pressure to high pressure, and also provided with means for maintaining a refrigerant medium in liquid condition in contact with such expansion means on both the high pressure and expansion sides thereof.

3. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure, comprising a porous partition, and means .for maintaining at all times a liquid saturated condition of the pores thereof to prevent the passage there through of gaseous medium from high pressure to low pressure, such means including medium-containing chambers above and below the porous partition.

4:. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure comprising a porous partition and means for maintaining a liquid saturated condition of the pores thereof to prevent the passage therethrough of gaseous medium and for maintaining a body of refrigerant medium and in liquid condition in contact therewith on the expansion side thereof, such means including a mediumcontainingreservoir located above the porous partition.

5. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure .to a low pressure comprising a porouspartition, and means for maintaining liquid saturated condition of the pores thereof to prevent the passage therethrough of gaseous medium and for maintaining a refrigerant medium in liquid condition in contact therewith on both the high pressure and expansion sides thereof, such means. including two medium-containing-reservoirs located respectively above and below the porous partition.

6. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure comprising a conduit, a porous partition dividing the conduit and adapted to prevent the passage of gaseous medium from high pressure to low pressure, and means for collecting and maintaining a memos body of refrigerant liquid in the conduit in contact with both the high pressure and the low pressure sides of the porous partition.

7. In a closed cycle refrigerating apparatus, the combination with a compressor, a condenser, a refrigerator, and a conduit between the condenser and the refrigerator of an expansion device consisting of a porous body dividing the conduit leading from the condenser to the refrigerator and arranged in position for the accumulation of liquid refrigerant on both the high pressure and the low pressure sides of the porous body and in contact therewith.

8. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure comprising a casing and a porous partition located therein, the easing forming a reservoir for refrigerant medium at the low pressure side of the partition immediately above and in contact with the partition.

9. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure comprising a casing and a porous partition located therein, the casing forming a reservoir for the refrigerant medium at the loW pressure side of the partition immediately above and in contact With the partition and .a reservoir at the high pressure side of the partition for refrigerant medium immediately below and in contact With the partition.

10. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure comprising a conduit, a porous partition dividing the conduit, and means for collecting liquid medium in the conduit on the low pressure side of the porous partition and for maintaining a liquid saturated condition of the pores of the porous partition to prevent the passage of gaseous medium therethrough.

11. An expansion device for supplying a refrigerant medium from a high pressure to a low pressure, comprising a casing and a porous partition removably held therein, the casing forming a reservoir for refrigerant medium at the low pressure side of the partition immediately above and in contact with the partition.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CLYDE J. COLEMAN.

Witnesses:

HENRY D. WILLIAMs,

HERBERT H. GIBBS. 

